The New Protocol
by Shinigami Liss
Summary: Warning! *MAJOR* spoilers for 'Serial Experiments Lain'! In present day tokyo, Lain realizes that she is not needed to stop the effects of Protocol 7 and can sleep forever. In AC 195, an OZ scientist finds an interesting peice of technology...


"The New Protocol"  
Author: Shinigami Liss  
Series: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing/Serial Experiments Lain  
Archives: FF.Net  
Archive options: Sure! ^_^ just email me with your name and web page, and I'll most likely say that you can put it there! ^_^ all you have to do is ask! ^.^  
Date started: 25 June, 2001  
Date uploaded: 01 September, 2001  
Part: 1/?  
  
Warnings: Crossover, angst, psychologically tortured Gundam pilots, MAJOR spoilers for Serial Experiments Lain, shounen ai implications, and yet a happy ending. EEEEEEE!! Happy endings are always nice!! ^____^  
  
Prologue  
  
A 22-year old Alice runs up the steps and closes in on Lain. Lain smiles at her, which Alice returns. Alice bends down to get eye level with Lain and speaks to the familiar girl.  
  
"Good afternoon." Alice says, at which Lain softly returns the greeting.   
"I've met you haven't I?" Alice asks, yet Lain does not answer. A look of recognition flashes across Alice's face as an idea comes to her.  
  
"Were you a student where I taught as a student teacher?" She pauses and then answers her own question. "No, that's not it. Hmmm..." Lain continues to smile at her, then finally speaks.  
  
"How do you do?" Lain formally asks the older woman in front of her that somehow recognized her, showing the strong bond of friendship they had.   
"What?" Alice is confused by the use of such a formal greeting because she was convinced that she knew this girl.   
  
"It is how do you do?" Alice stands corrected.   
  
"Really? Well, how do you do? I am Alice. Don't you think my name sounds funny? I'm a bit embarrassed about it. And you are?"   
  
"Lain." Lain replies. Alice stands up and repeats the name,   
  
"Lain." The name seems to resonate in her mind but she is unable to make a connection.  
  
"Do you know her?" Her boyfriend had joined them and asked.   
  
"No. Wrong person." Alice bends down towards Lain to say farewell to a little girl she swore she knew.   
  
"Goodbye. Maybe I'll see you again sometime." Lain smiles. Alice gets up and leaves.  
  
"Bye." Lain says.   
  
"Bye, Lain." Alice's boyfriend says just before the couple walk off together. Lain continues to watch them.  
  
"Yes. I can see you anytime." She mutters to herself.  
  
A computer screen is turned on with Lain's image appearing on the screen. "I'm here. So I will always be with you. Always." Lain says. The screen is turned off.  
  
It is nighttime, a years later. The power lines are humming. There is a city in the foreground, cars are honking their horns at the pedestrians and the strollers in turn hurry past. A light turns a figure green, letting people walk on the crosswalk.  
  
"Do you know why you are here?" says a voice that no one seems to hear.  
  
"Do you know why you were created? Or why they let you live? Iwakara Lain…." The voice ends its rambling as a girl seated on the roof of a building picks her head up at the sound of her name. The electrical wires hum like they always do. The image of the girl frays into many pieces and the girl then appears on the street, no one noticing her, yet staying away from what they see as a empty spot. The large screen at the center of the square talks its endless talk of the news and commercials. The girl turns to face the screen as if expecting it to finally say something important.  
  
"And lastly, Tachibana Labs has announced the production of protocol 8 for the Wired, which they say will be implemented by the end of the week." The news reporter on the screen says nonchalantly.   
  
"So, they have no use for me now." The girl says.   
  
"You will always be here, Lain." The voice says.  
  
"Hn. I won't have to do anything now because there is no one to follow Masami Eiri." She responds to the voice that none other than her can hear. The girl sighs, a emotionless sound. "It will be nice to take a break…"  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
  
250 years later, year AC 195  
  
  
"So, Doctor Eilie… what have you found?" the OZ Commander asks the scientist, who was looking through the artifacts found from an archeological site in Japan.  
  
"Something very interesting indeed." The little man says to his superior with unbridled glee. "Veeeery interesting."   
  
"Welll…. What is it?" the commander asks.  
  
"I'm not sure yet…" the little doctor readjusts his large spectacles upon his considerably smaller nose to peer at the diskette in his hand. "It seems to be called KIDs."  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
  
Authors notes: Thanks to Shades and Balto, who don't know that I copied off of their page Cyberia Café ( http://members.tripod.com/cyberiacafe/ ) for the Alice and Lain scene from the end of layer 13!!  



End file.
